Tag: strategy

Investing Time Wisely

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How to make Your Agenda your first priority and why it’s important.

At the beginning of any new year I like to take inventory. I go through the accomplishments of the previous year and create a list of all of the things I have done – new certifications, courses, or trainings. As I collected together this list today I realized – in life we move closer toward what we make time for. And I want to be sure I’m investing my time wisely.

At the beginning of the year it is fun to set intentions or write out resolutions. However, any project that I devote time and energy towards I will get better at and I will improve upon. At the beginning of the year I have the opportunity to choose where I allocate my time. If I take trainings in website design or pottery I will get better at those things. Therefore it is important to decide what I am working towards. 

Delight in the Detours

I am not advocating for a military style adherence to duty. Detours and often they delight and surprise us more than just following a very regimented path. I am suggesting that if we don’t take control of our own time, obligations will fill our days. 

If you don’t choose good books to read you will likely end up scrolling on your phone. If you don’t register for creative classes, or schedule a vacation that time will pass anyway. The only difference between being where you are now and where you want to be is your ability to invest in making your dreams happen. 

Parables

There’s an old story about a woman who wanted to get her law degree. She tells her friend, “I want to go to school but it takes so long and by the time I’m done I’ll be 45, I don’t think I should do it.” Her friend says, “In four years you will still be 45. Do you want to be a lawyer then or not?” Time will pass with or without our approval – how we fill it is up to us.

I hope you choose to spend your time on activities that bring you joy. Remember the only way to go in the direction you want is to intentionally take the path that leads there. 

Facing Challenges

We inevitably face challenges and hurdles – some plans may be delayed. Or you might miss opportunities because something else is more important and that is ok. The goal is not to plan out every moment or control every situation. The goal is remember that you have power over your time – it is the most valuable and limited resource we have in life. 

Choose Your Path

Choose how you wish to spend your time – if it’s law school, or a nail technicians course, or pottery class. Don’t leave the course of your life to someone else’s control because chances are they will steer you where they want to go, not where you would like to be. If you have a partner or a family, coordinate plans so that as you’re moving ahead your traveling together. It helps to have friendly faces to share the journey. Growing together with people you like and admire does not happen by accident, it happens by intention. Fortunately, the power lies within each of us.

I wish you courage and fun on the new year’s plans. Register for that pottery class, or finally decide to finish or start that degree. I hope you find the path that leads where you want to go because that is always the path to success. Love and hugs friends. I wish you well.

What journeys are you beginning this year and what steps are you taking to make them happen? I’m taking a writing class!

New Season New Goals

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Today is one of those blissful days in the change of season. It is warmer than usual. The sun is shining brightly. There is a beautiful breeze wafting through our windows, allowing us to air out the house. How lovely to have this day to myself. I want so share some of the things that I am enjoying today in hopes that they serve you too. Maybe it will inspire you to do your own fall refresh and maybe create some new goals.

Journaling – Adding images, magazine cutouts or drawings, to the pages I have written but not filled the whole page. I am also looking to find where I have littered and sprinkled my ideas like fairy dust on the pages. I am getting ready for the new season. Part of that journey is writing down my goals and reflecting on the accomplishments that I have attained already.

Reflection – I want to try to begin my days with a bit of reading. Books inspire and uplift me. I am way too easily drawn in by inspirational pieces and well written books. I rush through them, eager to find out what happens next. It’s best to set a timer.

Meal Plan – I wrote down some recipes that I enjoy and don’t want to be without this winter. I recently found them floating around in the pictures on my phone. Recipes for seasonal favorites include: Cranberry Tea, that makes our house smell like Christmas. And Hungarian Goulash an incredibly simple, rich, and delicious meal that cooks for a long time. This meal fills our home with savory and cozy smells that warm you up even before you take a bite. The perfect hygge treat after a cold day of playing outside in the snow. I love collecting and preparing these simple delectable dishes. Foods and traditions that warm the spirit and the heart, make life so much richer.

Goal Refresh – I began a refresh of my vision board. I had planned to organize some magazine images I clipped with the intention of adding them to my vision board. The beauty of the vision board is that in addition to inspiration it also reminds me of how far I’ve come. I try to update the board annually with the goals I want to carry with me into the new year.

To make space for the new goals I have to remove those that I have already accomplished. It is always a delightful revelation when an image is ready to come down. I don’t throw these out. To preserve them, I gently cut them down and tape them into my journals. Including a small note reminds me why they are important. Once in the journal they continue to remind me of how far I have come. 

It feels so good to be moving forward. There are so many goals that I have been able to complete this year. I have worked hard to get where I am. And it is always nice to have a little time to reflect. I love to savor and celebrate these small moments. 

How to Carry Less Baggage

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I surprised myself today. My plan was to organize my lists and dreams into a small pile that I might take it with me to Florida for a retreat with my college friends. We are planning lots of time to talk and have fun together. But also time to ourselves to plan, write, and strategize our next professional moves. I am looking forward to learning from these women. There is so much they bring to the table and I can’t wait to absorb all that I can from them and their experiences. 

My surprise came when I thought I had streamlined my pages of inspiration. Whenever I find inspiring images or ideas in a magazine I take them with me. Cutting and pasting ideas into a journal. Throughout the year I collect images and words that move me and when I feel inspired I cut them out. The plan was to bring these momentos with me to add to the conversation and my personal reflection.

The small pile of cutouts and plans is ONLY organized once, maybe twice annually. So when I tried to pull these scraps of paper together, the notebooks, and magazines quickly and easily filled my carry on. As I looked down at all of the ideas I made the executive decision to leave everything at home. I will build the new rather than repair the old. Today I will carry less baggage. These meaningful pieces that I have saved will be there in December when I’m ready to go through them. Until then, I am freeing myself of the obligation to carry them with me.

I find that this process can be helpful when I’m envisioning my future, to have pictures, words, or ideas that I wan tot remember. It can also be a burden, when we feel obligated or overcome by the sheer volume of exciting opportunities we might wish to partake in. It is cathartic to release yourself from responsibility. You don’t have to carry all of these things forward with you. For me these items only have value as long as they are serving my growth and happiness. If they become a distraction from the enjoyment of my life, they simply have to go.

Even though I was ready to dive deep into inspiration on this trip. I realize this process is a personal one. It is not done while chatting over hot beverages. Crafting my future is done in sanctuary. For me the sacred in between time of Christmas and New Years. Rather than be worried about this I accept it. I need to carry less baggage. I unpacked the paper scraps and filled my carryon with swimsuits, beach cover-ups, and sandals. We’re going to talk about big ideas – my inspiration will only grow – and what I need is less baggage when I come to the conversation.

How do you release yourself from feelings of obligation? Do you hold onto ideas that inspire you? How do you carry less baggage?

Manifesting a New Year

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Our home has been littered with lady bugs this fall and so I have no doubt that luck and good fortune will find me in 2023. These sweet little omens seem to be showing that good luck will be beating down my door and crawling in through every crevice. Therefore this time is sacred and to be savored. Cheers to our 2nd Birthday AWritten! Here’s how I am manifesting a new year and what I hope to share with each of you on this site and in the world.

Goals

As I envision the year ahead and what I want more of in my life I am noticing patterns. This new year’s dreams are very focused on health, well-being, home, family, and travel. These are goals for my very real and current life. They are strategies of how to live joyfully, healthfully, fitfully, and authentically. These goals are about embracing family, building a close knit community, and engaging fully with life. 

Environment 

The year appears to be about rest and recovery. My focus is on creating spaces and environments that serve deeper care of self and family. The goal is to create convenience and useful spaces that support and serve our lives. This includes this space we share here – our virtual living room where we connect.

Methodology

The year will not be focused on accomplishments, though I am sure there will be many. Nor am I focusing on adventure or change – though both are inevitable. The focus for this new year is on savoring beauty, rest, natural wonders, delicious foods, and simple pleasures. 

I primarily envision this year in neutral colors though there are a couple bold choices that appeal to me as well. There is a lot of simple elegance and grace which feels both authentic and present – a goal worthy of pursuit. To create beauty, absorb and appreciate it in the natural world and in the creative endeavors of others. I want to appreciate what I have already without longing for what is to come.

Timing

There is a calling to shared love, and honesty. A welcoming of self and others to share in my life, hearth, and home. Together we grow, support and nurture health in our lives. Sharing gentle and generous wellbeing with family and friends. 

It is preparing so that when the appropriate moment arrives I am ready. I simply know that now is a time for comfort, serenity, and peace. My time feels as if it is finally stretching itself out and resting in the sun. I do not have so many obligations and responsibilities looming that I feel spread thin or unable to manage all of the demands on my time or energy. Honoring my own rhythm – working when it feels right, resting when that feels appropriate too. I am living in gentle respect for all things, the first of which is me.

Future State

I want you to feel care, elegance, and grace at every touchpoint and interaction. Making the conversion from visitor, to fan, to buyer, to evangelist seamless. I want to build relationships that feel like friendships and bonds that sustain the tests of time and turbulence – whatever that might be. A household name that is more like a friend, an aspiration, and an inspiration rather than a single item, book, or product. I want friends and strangers to feel welcomed, loved, accepted, appreciated. To feel held, free, and to have a reason to come back – as only true love can make us feel. 

I want you to know that in the background I am forever creating new material, exploring new topics, and learning all I can so that I may share my lessons learned with all of you. As we grow and plan for this space I am forever focusing on creating room for each of you to thrive here and in your own lives. 

How do you feel connected to this space? And how can our content that better serve you and your needs?

Prevention: Combat Negative Self-Talk

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Having a safe place to call home begins with being a safe place to call home. Being a safe place begins with being gentle with ourselves and healing our mental space. We do this by questioning the negative self-talk that is happening inside our heads. Research has shown that almost 80% of the commentary that is running through our minds is negative. And worse than that these thoughts are repetitive. It is downright obnoxious to hear unwelcome criticism all day and fortunately there are tools to combat negative self-talk.

Now, there are some of us who do not have this problem and to you I say, congratulations! Pop over and read another post because you have already skipped this level. Research has shown that not everyone has an internal monologue, let alone a negative commenter that opines on every choice we make from which shirt to wear to how we drive. If you’re interested in learning more about this phenomenon in layman’s terms IFL Science has a great article on it.

For those of us with that ongoing negative stream of consciousness it is important to question your inner bully. Basic questions can quickly derail this voice. And beyond derailment you may be able to free yourself for the repetitive negative messaging. You can ask, is what they are saying true? Would you let someone talk to your best friend or child like that? If you wouldn’t, it’s time to question that inner bully and make them prove what they’re saying is true. Spoiler – it isn’t.

To get out of this negative mindset I find it easier to start by bringing my attention to the present moment. We cannot solve the problem in the same state we created it. Try some of the following and go with whatever works best for you.

Breathe deeply

Meditate

Take a 20 minute walk

Whatever helps you get away from the situation for a moment and give yourself the gift of fresh air and a fresh perspective. 

When you’re ready the following tools can help you to question your own inner monologue.* The best way I have found to do this is by writing. Ask your inner bully questions and write back the answers you receive. If something is not true, call them on it and see what they say. Make time to do this before you’re feeling at your lowest. Like an oil change, an intervention every so often is much easier than a full engine overhaul. This way as your inner bully attempts to build momentum, or get in the way of your success, you already know the tricks it will use. 

You also quickly realize that this voice is not speaking the truth about you. Recognizing that the voice, even though it is in your own head, is not honest makes a big difference in how you feel when you hear it. A lot like medical advice, from a trained physician familiar with your health history is appreciated. Medical advice from a stranger on the street or the gas station attendant may be suspect. 

When you recognize that just because you think something, that doesn’t make it true, you free yourself to believe the real and good things about yourself. 

When your head is a healthy and supportive place to be then you can move mountains. The disappointing news is that that voice never goes away. But when you stop responding by feeling worse about yourself it gets quieter and you are free. When you combat your negative self-talk you no longer need to live in negativity. And you are no longer held back from pursuing your goals because a voice in your head told you not to. You take away the power of that voice to limit your growth. 

We are all spending more time with ourselves these days and having a practical conversation with your inner bully is a quick way to set new ground rules, to reframe the conversation and make your mental space a comfortable and healthy place to be rather than the first place you hear negative feedback. Give yourself the gift of creating a healthy headspace and see if it doesn’t shift your perspective and your life.


How have you found ways to ignore or get through the negativity of your inner bully? What steps do you take to remind yourself that what you are hearing from your inner critic is not necessarily true?

*As always, please seek the help of a professional if you don’t feel comfortable taking on this exercise on your own. We can all benefit from professional guidance and assistance when focusing on our mental health.

Release Your Worries to the Universe

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Sometimes the stresses of the world can be overwhelming. When I find myself loosing my cool I know that I have taken on too much. I recently heard about a concept where you, “listen like a sponge.” When we hear negativity we do not absorb it, we let it filter through our many holes. The wisdom that is meant for us will stick but the anger and frustrations of others do not need to reside with us. That negative energy is not ours to hold. 

Still, even with this knowledge, I don’t always practice it. On those days when I am loosing my cool I know it is time to let go of what I’m holding on to. I let go by offering these problems, worries, and concerns to a higher power. There is no issue or problem we have that the universe cannot solve and resolve.

Therefore, instead of carrying worry with me I release it. I do this by writing down whatever issue I’m having on a scrap of paper. Once you write out your concerns you can place them anywhere. You may burn them in a bonfire and let the ash of your worries be carried away on the wind. This is very cathartic and almost ads a ritual element to the process – if you like that sort of thing. Right now I have mine in a mason jar that I keep in my studio. You can write out gigantic problems, or even small ones that are persnickety, and place them in the jar. It is only important that you give the worries over to the universe. This simple action removes these thoughts from your head and enables you to let go of your responsibility for them.

Najwa Zebian writes, “Those mountains you are carrying you were only meant to climb.” Stop carrying the mountain, put it down. Free yourself from the burden of controlling or managing your own destiny. Embrace those things you can solve and complete. You don’t have to do everything, you only have to do your next right thing. Release the problem and let someone else solve it.

My job is not to control but to release control so that my higher power can get to work. The best way I have found to do that is by writing out my worries and getting my concerns out of my head and onto paper. I stop carrying mountains and leave them where I find them. I do the smaller things that I can, I solve the little problems that crop up. And somehow those really big worries find ways of working themselves out.

How do you let go of those things you cannot control?

Creating Opportunities for Our Own Success

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Part of being successful is taking obstacles out of the way. Removing barriers can be an excellent gift that frees us to do more of what we love. For me it isn’t always doing the fun activity it’s making space in my day for the fun activity. It’s easy to get lost in emails or random trains of thought. The best way I have found to do the things that truly fulfill me is to make it easier. 

Set a Timer

If I have to organize emails or answer notes – I set a timer. I give myself 10 or 20 minutes to resolve and organize. This keeps me from getting sucked into an hour of unsubscribing and following up on emails from a month ago. Chances are I never needed that promotional email anyway.

Tandem Task

I want to take a multi-vitamin to help supplement my diet but I never remember to take it. I placed it in the cupboard next to my eye makeup remover. Every day I reach for the cleanser I see the vitamin and remember to take it. It’s a simple trick that keeps me healthy and adds no additional steps to my routine. It’s easy because it is attached to something I’m doing already.

Schedule the Time

I have found that if I don’t specifically allocate time to an activity the day gets away from me. Therefore, if I want to run to salon for a pedicure I set an appointment reminder. When it’s on the calendar it feels official. A task might get bumped if the day gets busy. But if I have it on my agenda I simply move the reminder to another day instead of cancelling it entirely. We all need to plan our joy.

Set It and Forget It

One of the ways I make sure our family eats well is by preparing meals in large quantities and freezing them for later. Instead of relying on take out for a quick meal fix I prepare a large meal on Sunday and freeze the extras. This gift to future me assures that later in the month we will have delicious foods ready. This works like a dream when we’re in the midst of team practices and family activities. 

If possible, I also like to prepare meals that slow cook all day. The crock pot is a lifesaver that helps me to have a delicious dinner ready without falling back on freezer pizzas. You can check out some of my favorite recipes on Pinterest.

These are some of the tools I use to create opportunities for success in my day. I hope they serve you. They’re all relatively simple quick fixes that I have found make my life a lot easier and help me to spend more time doing what brings me joy. Let me know if you apply any of these steps and how they change the way your routine works! I hope it is all for the better! 

Prioritization: Wisdom from Successful Women

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Some days chaos will find you wherever you go. Today is one of those hectic days where the phone rings, the emails pour in, and even though it is a shorter holiday week, all of the work of a full week needs to get done. Despite all of these responsibilities calling for my attention I am making a point to put my goals first. Often we get rushed into decisions and with so many competing agendas I can get distracted into making someone else’s goal list my own. It’s not my favorite reality but it does happen. To get back in my own lane I take the following steps.

Make a List – The first step I take is to create of list of the items I would like to accomplish in a day. I actually took this idea from Ariana Huffington. Ariana, if you’re reading, thank you for your wisdom, I appreciate you. At the end of the day Ms. Huffington takes half an hour or less to go through her list of items that she wants to accomplish the next day. This stems from having larger goals that we have first broken into smaller steps – check out this blog post on breaking your goals up into manageable steps here. Once that work is done you then have smaller bites, little steps that you can accomplish to attain your larger goals. 

Take Two Small Steps – This wisdom comes from the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten. Garten believes in taking two steps every week towards accomplishing your goal. This works like a dream because two steps in a week is manageable and every inch forward is still moving ahead!

Now, that we’ve got two steps toward goal accomplishment and our goals broken down into digestible steps – how do we keep those priorities when it seems like everyone we talk to has an agenda and a plan for how we should spend our time? 

Pick your Ball – That’s when I call in Nora Ephron. She believes that to balance priorities we have balls that we are all juggling to keep in the air at all times. Now, some of those balls are glass and some of them are plastic, it’s up to you to determine their value. Family, friendships, etc. these are your glass balls that you don’t ever want to drop and break. But you can drop some balls some of the time and you have to, unless you have figured out time travel and shape-shifting. If you have yet to accomplish this, please consider that you cannot be in all places at all times and sometimes when you are one place it means you’re missing something that is fairly important somewhere else. You must discern which tasks, opportunities, moments, are made of glass and which ones are made of plastic – and doing that will give you the opportunity to be there for the events and people that are most important to you. 

The goal is to use your intuition and to discern what is most important to you. How do you do that? Well, I often find for big decisions that flipping a coin helps. Usually, while the coin is in mid-air, there’s one side I’m hoping for and that is my gut telling me what I truly want. 

Practice – Another way to be sure we don’t get distracted by competing desires is to practice listening to ourselves. The best way to practice discernment is to begin listening to the small voice inside of you. The key is to start small. Don’t ignore your voice for decades and then expect it to be strong and bold when it’s time to make a major decision. You have to listen to your inner voice all the time so that it knows that if it does speak up it will be heard.

That voice is easy to ignore when you’re around other people. Simply because everyone else’s voice is just so loud – they’re talking at you! Your inner voice will whisper and so it’s important to listen closely. A great way to begin is to take yourself out for ice cream. Don’t bring anyone else because then you’ll be tempted to “have what she’s having.” And don’t ask the server to pick for you because that’s cheating. 

As a former ice cream server I can tell you that people spend more time selecting a flavor than they do a new car. It’s because there’s so many options and unless you have an old standby from which you never waiver, there are a lot of tempting flavors to try. That’s the beauty of ice cream, even if you make the wrong choice, in the end you still have ice cream, which is always good and relatively inexpensive. If you get it wrong, come back another day. Try something else and find what you like. Once you have ice cream down experiment and listen to yourself on progressively larger and larger choices. This will help you train and practice for those bigger decisions, when you really want to hear your own voice above the din, when it matters and you need to listen to your own gut above all of the chaos and competing demands.

How do you stay in your own lane and make yourself your main priority? 

Gentle Self-Care Routines for Getting Out of a Funk

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Every so often I get out of my routine and find myself in a funk. It happens when I get sick, or overwhelmed, and tired. It helps to remember that this happens to everyone. We go on vacation, get involved in a work or personal projects that take us off schedule, and it’s only when we find ourselves suddenly not feeling so great that we realize, we’re off our game. Next time you feel down for not taking care of yourself, instead of beating yourself up or making yourself feel worse, I hope you remember that this happens to all of us and we can always reset. We don’t have to wallow or punish ourselves we can simply take the steps we know work for us. 

I’ve pulled together a list of the things I do that help me get out of a funk and feel better. They are simple steps that shift my perspective. They help me to move towards love and care for myself instead of punishment – which never works. Have you ever punished a child and then had them feel pleased? Of course not, they’re hurt and tired and likely crying. If we truly want to change our behavior patterns we need to give more love, not less.

Hydrate

Sleep

Eat well

  • Fresh fruits, vegetables, and nourishing meals that comfort can change the way your body feels and functions. 

Moisturize

Stretch

Meditate – To learn more about how, I wrote a blog on starting your meditation practice.

Travel – or try a new restaurant, even a small shift can be exciting!

Read – for fun or information but I prefer an actual book. My phone screen can be draining.

Call a friend – Studies show that people with strong social ties have a 50% lower risk of dying.

Relax – Take frequent breaks 

Create – Sing, dance, draw for fun. Whatever you like to do make a little time in your day for it!

Laugh – Monty Python does it for me but find an old standby and let yourself laugh!

Give back 

  • It never hurts to help someone else, I often find it feels good to remember how much I have to share.

I hope the list above serves you. What other practices do you use to get yourself out of a funk?

Creating a Self-Care Plan

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Taking action to preserve or improve our health is a necessary practice. When creating a self-care plan of your own it’s important to remember that it’s not necessary to address every area of your health or wellness at once. It is much more effective to select a few areas to address and change or try new ones over time. The following is a list of areas of health we can work to improve: 

Environmental – recycling, planting a personal or community garden.

Emotional – Activities that involve each of your senses can help you improve emotional health. Anything that engages smell, taste, touch, sight, and sound.

Intellectual – Read a book, relax, taking a break.

Occupational – Balance between work and leisure time. Building relationships with coworkers and industry peers.

Physical – Exercise, eat a variety of healthy foods, taking a walk outside

Spiritual – Creating a quiet space for solitude and contemplation can be useful for improving your spiritual health.

Financial – Following a budget, cutting back, or limiting unnecessary expenses.

Community – Turn to a partner, friend or family member when you feel overwhelmed.

When self-care is practiced regularly it helps buffer the impact of a mental health challenge. When we care for ourselves we are better equipped to help ourselves and others. Self- care is an important tool to help achieve wellness. It is a deeply personal process of regaining physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional balance. It means different things to different people.

During stressful times in life, people naturally carry their stress with them everywhere they go. Whenever you feel overly stressed, or better yet before you feel overwhelmed, it may be a good time to focus on self-care.

When was the last time you did something to take care of yourself? How has self-care helped you to maintain balance in your life?